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Wave and Wind Energy could make the UK a net exporter of Electricity in the Future

Submitted by admin on Thu, 20/05/2010 - 00:00

According to new studies, the UK’s offshore wind, wave and tidal energy could turn the country into a net exporter of energy. The first study to put a financial value on the UK’s offshore renewable energy resources has said that the sector could transform the country from a net energy importer to a net energy exporter by 2050. This would also lead to cheaper Business Electricity in the future.

The report, which was actually commissioned by a coalition of government and industry organizations known as the Offshore Valuation Group, says that the creation of a North Sea super grid would allow the UK to export energy generated by Offshore wind farms and marine energy systems to the rest of Northern Europe.

The study sets out three scenarios for the next 40 years. The most ambitious is the action resulting in an average of 13.1GW of wind, wave and tidal energy being installed each year up to 2050. It argues that such a rapid build out of renewable energy capacity would create profit of £24 billion for the UK supply chain and create direct employment for about 340,000 people.

It went on to predict that the resulting wind and marine energy farms would produce energy equivalent to 2.6 billion barrels of oil a year by 2050. This more than doubles the output from North Sea oil fields during the peak year of production.

Offshore Valuation Group Chairman, Tim Helweg Larsen, said that this study is not designed as a predictor of the future. Their vision, while exciting, is not the only way forward. They have set out to describe the potential value of the UK’s offshore renewable resources without trying to predict the future, nor to propose prescriptive recommendations.

Eon boss Johannes Teysson has lashed out at politicians for failing to rescue the EU emissions trading system (ETS). Anyone who claims Europe is a pioneer of climate protection "should be ashamed", he told the German daily newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.